Yes, "die Kaetzin" exists and is the correct term for a female cat, though most Germans say "Katze" if they mean the female cat. Der Hund/der Ruede for the male dog is used as synonym also - but in correct terminology "Katze/Hund" just represent the race not the gender. (German for Germans <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/evilgrin1.gif" alt="" /> )
Kiya
An elegant method to avoid this for
all animals is just using this term instead of searching feverishly for the correct term:
das Weibchen = female animal, guess again -> gender neutral
das Männchen = male animal, interesting here -> gender neutral <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/delight.gif" alt="" /> I believe, this has to do with the diminutive syllable "chen" = small, little
but if I leave out the "smaller making syllable", watch this:
das Weib = human woman, not meant very friendly, gender neutral (personal pronoun "sie" = she is allowed here)
der Mann = human man, neutral meaning, and definitely masculine <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/delight.gif" alt="" />
der Vogel = the bird - don't ask me why, it's masculine (animal race)
das Reh = the doe, gender neutral (race)
der Elefant = the elefant, masculine
and tomorrow I will explain the plural for nouns - let's see who runs away then <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/devil.gif" alt="" />
